TV: Friday Night Lights....the BEST show on TV

If anyone from outside of Texas ever asks me what it's like living in the Lone Star State, all I have to do is give them my Seasons 1 & 2 of Friday Night Lights and say, "Watch this. This is what living in Texas is like."

Ever since the very first season, critics have called this one of the best shows on TV. The great thing about it is that while football is at the core of this show, it's not what the show's about. The show is about people.

The characters in the show are so well written, even minor, on-the-side characters are given story arcs that are meaningful and poignant. You end up really caring for what happens in these people's lives.

The acting by leads Kyle Chandler (of "Early Edition" fame) and Connie Britton (of "Spin City" and The Brothers McMullen fame, and also the woman of my dreams) is spot on. Britton, who is one of two returning actors from the Friday Night Lights movie, fits into the role of coach's wife perfectly, and she and Chandler have that rare onscreen chemistry that seems like these two have been married for years. Chandler, as Coach Eric Taylor, comes across as devoted father and hardass coach, while never changing his character one bit. The rest of the cast is full of mostly unknowns who are now getting the attention they deserve, because they're fantastic actors. Even those that I wasn't too keen on at the beginning have started to grow on me.

The thing that I really love about this show isn't the acting, the writing, or the gorgeous women (though I do LOVE the gorgeous women on this show). It's the fact that for the first time on television, it shows how Texas really is, not some Hollywood version of Texas, but Texas as a real place with real people...who have real problems. The second season had some WTF moments, but the show weathered the storm and never jumped the shark. I think that one of the reasons this show appeals to people and tugs at their heartstrings is because the majority of people who watch it come from small towns themselves, and this show reminds them of home.

It reminds them of people saying "hi" or "howdy" to you on the street. Of carnivals on the town square. And of Friday night football games. Whenever the main theme of the show starts playing, it takes me back to my adopted hometown, a small little place north of Houston, population around 4,000 people, and the comfort that I found there. That's what this show means to me.

If you don't watch this show, you should. Watch it online, or DVR it, or catch it on iTunes. Don't let this be one of those shows that you pick up the DVD in a few years and fall in love with. This is a show that you need to love NOW...because it might not be around very much longer. And that will be the greatest shame.


PS - for your information the gorgeous women are the aforementioned Connie Britton, Minka Kelly, Adrienne Palicki, and Aimee Teegarden.

Bunter's dream girls come to life and star on an NBC tv show.